Morgenstern was born in
Magdeburg. He studied at the
University of Halle under
Johann August Eberhard in philosophy and
Friedrich August Wolf in philology. In 1802 he moved to
Dorpat in
Livonia,
Russian Empire (now Tartu, Estonia) where he would spend the rest of his life. He held the chair for
rhetoric, classical philology,
aesthetics, and
history of art and literature at the newly founded
Imperial University of Dorpat and was the first director of its library. The character of his work changed in Dorpat. He discontinued his
Plato studies and wrote about literature, art, philology, and philosophy. Morgenstern's former teacher Friedrich Wolf was disappointed by this development, and he remarked in 1808 that his student was growing more elegant, vain, and boring with the years. It was in the course of this work that Morgenstern coined "
Bildungsroman". Even after his retirement in 1834 Morgenstern stayed in Dorpat. He bequeathed his 12,000-volume library, containing many manuscripts and a good part of the
Kant estate, to the university. Four years after his death a medal was issued in his honor. Of this medal, made by Ferdinand Helfricht in
Gotha, seven pieces were issued in silver and 200 in bronze. ==Works==